HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — Saturday is Juneteenth, which is the holiday commemorating the end of slavery. June 19, 1865 was when union soldiers told enslaved black people in Texas they were free.

Communities across the Midstate are holding events Friday and Saturday to celebrate the historic day.

There is a Juneteenth flag raising ceremony at 9 a.m. Friday at Lancaster City Hall.

Saturday is a car parade, organized by the African American Cultural Alliance of Lancaster. It will start at 1 p.m. at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology and will go to the Spice of Life Foundation for a Family Fest. That festival goes from 3-7 p.m.

Saturday in Harrisburg, the organization Capital Rebirth his hosting a celebration. It will begin with coffee and a book reading at Good Brothas Book Café at 9 a.m., and will be followed by workshops at the Boys and Girls Club Berryhill at noon. There will be a cookout at Sunshine Park from 4-7 p.m.

Greater Harrisburg Young Professionals of Color is also having a cookout at Hurston Manor at 5 p.m.

Over in Cumberland County, Carlisle Hope Station is holding a celebration from 1-3 p.m. with music, resource vendors and ice cream.

President Joe Biden signed a bill into law yesterday that makes Juneteenth a federal holiday.

It is the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Junior Day was created in 1983.